LARWILL – Four Whitko School Board members voted for hearing recommendations from a community-driven task force before deciding the future configuration of the school district. About 200 people watched Monday evening during a school board meeting as Georgia Tenney, Jorell Tucker, Eric Trump and Carrie Hoffman voted for Tucker’s proposal. This vote came after a failed motion to close the middle school and make the elementary schools kindergarten through sixth grade and place seventh- through 12th-graders at the high school, starting next year. That motion died for the lack of a second. Tucker recommended the school buildings remain the same this year and that the task force be given until Jan. 31 to present a report and make recommendations for the 2018-19 school year and into the future. Hoffman recommended a task force standing meeting be established after every regular school board meeting, although people can meet as is convenient for them. Board member Joe Begley voted against the proposal. He saw no reason for delaying the process. “People need to move on,” he said. “There’s too much uncertainty for the community, for the staff. I don’t see a purpose in delay.” He said he talked to a real estate salesman who advised him that people will prefer a stable school system. “When I came on the board we downsized Pierceton Elementary School,” he said. “We knew about the attendance rates and that’s why we made Pierceton smaller.” He also doesn’t want the general fund to be exhausted. Trump said two major things came from the community meetings held in January, “We were asked to take our time and we were asked to do it right. We can have 5,000 people working together as one community and, if we work together, we can make great decisions.” “Let’s give the community a chance,” Tucker said. “We just started the textbook initiative. This can mean 70 more students. Give them a chance to respond.” The textbook initiative waives textbook fees for employees whose children attend Whitko. The program started late last semester. At the April 17 meeting, the board will recommend an independent mediator to lead the task force’s considerations. Residents can contact the administrative office or any school board member to be part of the task force. Several people, including council members from both towns, business owners and other interested parties have already met informally to discuss the issues facing the district. Terry Collier also addressed the board prior to their task force vote, saying she served on the board in the 1990s and could not envision what the future would present in 20 years. “I never imagined fourth-graders presenting videos like they did tonight,” she said. “What we thought was best was one campus for grades 7 to 12 here, with easy access across U.S. 30. How much more is technology going to change in the next 20 years? Keeping the high school in a certain community is unrealistic. Don’t make a hasty decision. Think about how education is going to change.” Students of the month were recognized as Millian Alvarez, as PES student nominated by Kim Kelley; Alena Hindbaugh, nominated by the South Whitley Elementary School related arts team; Erin Starkweather nominated by Betty Overdeer; and Isaac Walters, nominated by Kelly Miller. Jillian Culp, Hope Bradley, Addison Baxter and Amy Brown presented short public service announcement videos respectively titled “Quality Education,” “Stopping World Hunger,” “No Poverty”?and “Choose Life,” as part of an assignment in Michelle Ball’s fourth-grade class at Pierceton Elementary School. Superintendent Steve Clason said a Title I grant, which provides financial assistance to schools with many children from low-income families, was received in the amount of $286,319. Also, the archery club received grants totaling $10,000 to purchase more equipment. Archery coach Jennifer Lime invited everyone to attend the second Whitko Archery Invitational starting Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday morning with awards on Saturday. She said 386 students from Indiana, Ohio and Michigan will attend the event and advised everyone that Whitko student and top national 3D archer Amy Hurd will shoot at 3 p.m. Saturday. Elementary school principals Mike McClain of PES and Bryan Emmert of SWES said iRead testing went well. Emmert said the top two science fair projects, presented by Laura Lime and Wyatt Nixon, did well at the regional competition. Middle School Principal Gene Sweeney said the band has earned an all-music award for the first time. The distinction is given to bands who earn gold medals in the fall and in the spring. Whitko High School Principal John Snyder complimented students Maddy Foutz for earning a national Scholastic Art silver medal; Rozlyn Bishop for a state FCCLA gold award; and Ally?Reiff for making the first-team, all-state girls basketball designation.
